CI$5.1M PR fees owed by hundreds of people

| 08/12/2020 | 89 Comments
Cayman News Service
Premier Alden McLaughlin answers questions in Parliament on Monday

(CNS): The government is owed more than CI$5.14 million in outstanding permanent residency fees by 640 people that was due over the last twelve months. Although government has no plans to write off any of this debt, Premier Alden McLaughlin has said that around $3 million will not be easy to collect because it is owed by people who have left the island indefinitely, died, already had status when they were billed or the PR had been rescinded.

Responding to a parliamentary question on Monday from Bernie Bush MP about the debt and how it is being collected, the premier said Workforce Opportunities and Residency Cayman (WORC) has begun a concerted effort to collect as much as it can.

Based on a recent report by that agency on the outstanding fees, he said the government was considering the possibility of civil action. But he told his colleagues that a significant amount had been collected recently after “minded to revoke” letters were sent to those owing money, threatening to take away their residency rights until they paid the outstanding fees.

McLaughlin said this targeted effort resulted in 87 people paying more than CI$500,000 from the more than $2.1 million that government officials had estimated they can almost certainly collect.

The premier said that anyone who has not paid their permanent residency fees will no longer be able “to move on” in the immigration process to get either status or naturalization. Talking about the mixed bag of measures to get the money, McLaughlin said this was described as the most effective tool.

“Obviously, none of these are working entirely satisfactorily, hence the backlog that we have, but it is now a focus of WORC and the CSPR board not only to deal with these outstanding fees but to put in place systems that reduce the money owed to government,” he added.

McLaughlin said the debt was mainly from the group of people that have gained permanent residency through their jobs and their own right to work. Some $4 million is outstanding in fees from over 400 people under that category.

One of the challenges regarding the debt is that in the past, because the process took so long, people were granted status before a bill was generated for the final year’s PR fees. So by the time it catches up to people, they dispute the debt.

He pointed out that in some cases the fees are very high, so a regulation has been amended to allow government to pro rata the fees for parts of the year after status has been granted.

McLaughlin said that government had not used the recent pension drawdown to track people, which the opposition leader said might help government find those who owe money and are still here and working.

See the relevant part of the parliamentary session on CIGTV below:


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Category: Government Administration, Politics

Comments (89)

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  1. The watcher says:

    I think the time of equality and diversity has now arrived. All persons in the Islands use the same roads, services etc.
    So maybe, it would be fairer to spread these fees out over a population in general as a small tax. That way, everyone is treated equally. I am sure that a lot of us would gladly accept this in exchange for full voting rights.

  2. Anonymous says:

    I will pay this “expat tax” when I get an un corrupted and transparent government.
    Until then, I will just sit back with a cool drink and watch the rent money pile up.

  3. Anonymous says:

    I will take 10% of whatever fees I collect from the deadbeats.

  4. Anonymous says:

    CIG step up to the plate and get these monies owed. If they can’t pay, revoke their PR and give them notice to pay or leave. Simple as that. Stop being the pissing spot for every Tom, Dick, and Mary Jane. Enough is enough!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  5. Anonymous says:

    You want my money but you sit on granting me the permit because no one shows up to the meeting? HA!

  6. Anonymous says:

    I just wasted 2 hours sitting at WORC to complete a 5 minute transaction to hand in my annual declaration and a cheque.
    Maybe if this entire system wasn’t so poorly managed the fees would be collected easier

  7. Anonymous says:

    Now this revelation is what you call, “Pouring salt in the wound”

  8. anon says:

    Unpaid debts is part of Cayman culture, take CAL, after tens of millions of taxpayer funded subsidies they still can’t pay their landing fees.Not to mention the turtle farm where it seems it is customary for staff to help oneself to the till, as it will be years before they are found out.

  9. Anonymous says:

    In a company this would be considered gross mismanagement.

  10. Anonymous says:

    Most of these are poverty stricken people. Find them and deport them proactively. Stop wasting our resources! Cayman is the only island accommodating these people.

    • Anonymous says:

      Yeah, not just Caymanians lazy and living off government purse and generosity, as some may lead you to believe.

  11. not from Cayman says:

    The BIG ISSUE is that PEOPLE know they OWE FEES
    before they were granted residency etc…

    regardless of the time frame a bill was sent to them

    PAY your fees or your residency or right to reside in Cayman would be taken from YOU

  12. Anonymous says:

    Why are the government cutting them slack. Give them x amount of time to pay and if they don’t pay, revoke their residency and ship them off Island.

  13. Cheese Face says:

    I’ll take you seriously when you kick Bush out Alden, until then you will be duly ignored, as you are as big a joke as he is.

  14. Anonymous says:

    nobody should pay any residency fee without first being given full democratic voting rights

    • Anonymous says:

      Wow…thanks for the entitled guests Alden the Destroyer.

    • Anonymous says:

      Whoa..wait a minute. The more you know segment time!

      The beloved US of A has granted the people of Puerto Rico citizenship but still does not allow them to vote, 50 years plus. We are not alone here!

      • Anonymous says:

        Wait till next year when we dissolve the failing electoral college and re vamp voting rights. Onwards and upwards.

      • Tell the rest of the story says:

        If they want to trade that vote for surrendering 20 to 35% of their income to taxes then let them have it. I know what I would rather have.

        • Anonymous says:

          Scaremongering. Even with a population of 60,000 the level would be around 10 per cent tax for residents, 100,000 population would be even better and this is the desired figure. Houses were built, residency was given out but then …. people just left. Grabbed the pension money and ran.
          Guess we gotta start again and make some more Caymanians.

    • ACaymanian says:

      @4:12 why is that, why should you have the right to vote if you are a Resident?. Either you jest or are not aware that the rights to become a belonged is etched in the United Nations charter on human rights. This provides for governments to establish a time period and naturalization process as determined by each nation to grant citizenship, and in fulfillment of human rights. It therefore follows that Residency and status as we call it are separate events. I could go on but perhaps you would make yourself more enlightened if you researched it your self. Knowledge is power dear one.

  15. Anonymous says:

    The breadth and depth of the mismanagement is astounding.

  16. Anonymous says:

    Died, left the island, already had status when billed or have had their PR revoked – difficult to collect lol. Wow – Alden and a whole new definition on difficult. Think it would be easier to get Max out then any of those people to pay.

  17. G S says:

    “Premier Alden McLaughlin has said that around $3 million will not be easy to collect because it is owed by people who have left the island indefinitely, died, already had status when they were billed or the PR had been rescinded. McLaughlin said this targeted effort resulted in 87 people paying more than CI$500,000 from the more than $2.1 million that government officials had estimated they can almost certainly collect.”

    So basically 1.6m is actually owed as the rest is crappy accounting by CIG.

  18. Anonymous says:

    This is chump change in comparison with the duty waivers to developers.

  19. Anonymous says:

    PR fees are illegal under the UK’s human rights obligations. Trying to enforce them would blow the scheme open and Alden knows that.

    • Anonymous says:

      Well, we need to reconsider what rightfully qualifies someone to permanent residency before the rest of Cayman is up for sale to the highest bidder.

      Since the majority of the local commercial and residential real estate market only caters to international millionaires and multi-millionaires, basically buying any piece of real estate automatically entitles the owner to PR. (Hence the term “buying PR”; check the legislation) Locals can’t climb over the rising paywalls, hence they are locked out getting anything for themselves; classic upper-class knight move and castling.

      Effectively, Cayman law infers that if your bank account is a certain size, you are immediately entitled to a path to citizenship here and everything that comes with it. (Wonder why Moses is relying on the rich for “the recovery”; sounds like inviting more oligarch candidates to the private gala)

      Even the major real estate companies primarily market our own citizenship desserts to foreigners as major incentive to make private sales and commissions!!!! (Check Dart Real Estate and Bovell websites if you don’t believe me) Trust me, you do not have to look far!!

      Mac has made his bed, and frankly, it is time for him to lie in it! The same group of foreigners he indiscriminately gave PR to is the same group that is now holding him up in the courts.

      The chickens have finally come to roost to all the privatized corruption in the Cayman Islands, and should serve as a stark warning to anyone else trying to bark up this tree and get away with it.

      People here are beyond tired of all the corn toe stepping, neck standing, and silence buying that the crooks running around this rock call progress and development for all, and use to hoard loot for themselves and tell locals to kick rocks.

    • Anonymous says:

      Can I get a refund now then as unemployed after all that?

      • Anonymous says:

        No. Give us all your money and leave. Don’t let the airplane door hit you on your way out. Consider yourself lucky we tolerated you for so long. Bye.

    • Anonymous says:

      Tell me more!

  20. Anonymous says:

    Doesn’t matter who they work for all those who have yet to pay need to be given 3 months to do so or their PR needs to be revoked.
    Why is it so hard to collect from these people? CIG have no problem chasing other easy targets. I guess other citizens will have to make up the short fall in coming years.

  21. Anonymous says:

    It wouldn’t be difficult to cut the government budget by $5 million.

    Parliament is a waste of money and seriously, why so many MP’s?

  22. Anonymous says:

    How much in unpaid medical bills, garbage and school fees?

  23. Anonymous says:

    #surplusdone

  24. Anonymous says:

    You given PR to hundreds of people who will not or cannot pay their bills? Well done Alden.

  25. Anonymous says:

    Stop changing the subject Alden! Usually a bit of “expats are ripping off the country” grandstanding will work and we will all forget yesterday’s headlines, but not this time.

    There is only one thing we want to hear from you: we want to know why you think it’s acceptable for McKeeva Bush to remain in high office. Is his conduct acceptable to you? Or is unacceptable conduct OK from the speaker of your new parliament? Which is it? Or are you just too weak or too compromised to deal with it?

    If you won’t show any leadership over the issue, and you won’t listen to the demands of the people or to even face your voters and make a statement, then just zip it until the election when we can get rid of you.

    As the saying goes “either lead, follow or get the **** out of the way”. In this case the first two options seem increasingly unlikely.

    Ditto Juju, Tara et all. I will eat my hat if any of you get re-elected.

    • Anonymous says:

      True. But McKeeva will get right back in. And so will this same ole bunch. Dwayne the clown is also going back in. He pretty much own Bodden Town. Arden pretty much the same. Ju ju.

      Tara, that White guy useless.

      • Anonymous says:

        Only if you vote for them. Or rather, only if you don’t vote against them. So vote for someone who isn’t one of these villains and watch how quickly they go back to mowing lawns.

        • Anonymous says:

          I dont know if theres gonna be a choice in WBS from Tara, PPM and UDP but at this point, if a jellyfish ran, theyd get my vote!

    • Anonymous says:

      I agree, but get some Tortuga Hot Sauce for your Hat…

      The Cayman Electorate with again elect these fools.

    • Anonymous says:

      Alden cant call Mac out. That would be the pot calling the kettle…everybody up in that LA building conflicted in some way. What a tangled web of lies. No wonder it was priority to become MPs and secure their immunity.

  26. Anonymous says:

    Is anyone that owes money that has not been collected anyone’s friend?

  27. Anonymous says:

    ha…that’s what you get when tell people leave because you have no economic recovery plan!

  28. Anonymous says:

    If the deadbeat was given status and they still owe the overdue fees then revoke the status and kick them off the island.Why is it that these deadbeat foreigners are getting away with this? Also publish their names and nationality; name and shame them because they knew they owed the money but they just do not want to pay it because they know the government is so slack on enforcement.

  29. Fed up says:

    Arrest people at airport easily before boarding!

    • Anonymous says:

      Like McKeewa and politicians…

    • Anonymous says:

      Some of us have already left bobo and using cayman residency to avoid paying tax in another jurasdiction. Meanwhile, the tax free rent from the property we were forced to buy rolls in. Thanks for the opportunity.

  30. Anonymous says:

    WTAF!?!?
    Everywhere else in the world nothing is processed until the fees are paid. This is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard. Wow

  31. Anonymous says:

    “already had status when they were billed” – So they incorrectly billed people and are refusing to write it off?

  32. Anonymous says:

    #worldclass

  33. Anonymous says:

    How are people granted status when they’re not in good standing with immigration?

    • Anonymous says:

      Around 2,850 in 2003 alone.

      • Anonymous says:

        Those were special people..duty dodging Michael Ryan, some guys in Northward, one guy who worked for GIS just kind of put his own name on list and of course those who paid $$$ to all our Schindlers’ to get on their lists.

  34. Anonymous says:

    One month after I paid my last PR fee I was granted status….to think if Expat-Alden was in power I could have gotten 5k back in proration.

  35. Anonymous says:

    The have probably already left Cayman, just like Cubans did.

  36. Anonymous says:

    So for all you naysayers that whined Alden is selling your futures…he’s giving them away so there.

  37. Anonymous says:

    Can’t imagine anyone wanting to pay to stay in a corrupt dictatorship, unless of course it is your cup of tea.

    Poor standard of education, chock-a-block full of traffic. Robberies and other violent crime. Crime at the highest levels of government going unpunished, while the common man has the book thrown at him.
    A Governor who has failed to enforce any kind of standards. in public life while happily playing his steel drum (what a joke this man is turning out to be).

    Million dollar houses built to very poor standards and supermarkets full of GMO overpriced garbage.

    Cancer as an epidemic and the Lodge as the solution.

    Sign me up, Bobo.

  38. Anonymous says:

    Getting close to the bottom of the barrel already?

  39. Anonymous says:

    Come on Mr. Premier, status or not cancel their status. Come,see, want become, and no pay, well go away..

    • Anonymous says:

      Easy, no upfront payment no status/pr …or as the saying goes, “ no tickle, no laundry”.

    • Anonymous says:

      1:59pm – I agree – time for Alden to step up to the plate and remind everyone what Caymanians stand for!! Honesty and integrity!

      Most will not like him, but guess what they will respect him for his stance!

  40. Anonymous says:

    Alden, if someone dies owing you money, their estate still owes it…

  41. PhenomAnon says:

    For those deadbeat PR recipients that have either left the island or died, a simple search of the land registry will determine whether they left any real estate behind in their names. Many would have to had purchased property in order to meet their PR application requirements.

    Government should simply place a Charge over their properties until the debt has been paid.

    • Anonymous says:

      That’s cold

      • Anonymous says:

        Cold is not paying your bills and living out life thumbing your nose at the very country that welcomed you. Screw cold. Screw them!!!!

        • Anonymous says:

          Screw government for not paying attention to their accounts, screw their accountants, screw politicians for using, abusing your money and screw you for doing nothing about it all these years and allowing it to happen!

        • Anonymous says:

          You ‘fraid you won’t get your government hand-out for Christmas or wha?

    • Anonymous says:

      Straight, a lot of people have come here strictly for the party favors, then dropped everything and jumped ship at the earliest convenience when the fire at their feet became too hot to handle.

      We all know the two main reasons for this getting the time of day now (Election votes and rum barrel running dry), but we all need to address the real elephants in the room.

      Putting better community rebuilding measures in place and higher standards for PR holders to deter those abusing the system (e.g. banned COVID couple) so these things don’t go awry in the first place.

      The Cayman Islands has been the secret butt-end of the joke for too long. If we continue to let the deviants of the world hide their dirty laundry here and allow them to take local candy for chump change in return, we are the ones who will be ratted out and “brought up” for it when they are caught, not them.

    • Anonymous says:

      And what if they were billed for PR for years after they died, which I suspect is the case in at least some instances.

  42. Anonymous says:

    So there are foreign nationals here that owe government money, and government cannot find them? What kind of shitshow is government operating?

    • Alfredo hernandez says:

      1:43 you mean the people that died on left the Islands?

      • Anonymous says:

        If they have left, government should know., and be pursuing it where appropriate. If they have died, government should be seeking any monies due from their estate. That is what happens when you responsibly manage money that you have to account to the public for.

      • Anonymous says:

        You been counting US votes?

    • Anonymous says:

      Scaremongering. Even with a population of 60,000 the level would be around 10 per cent tax for residents, 100,000 population would be even better and this is the desired figure. Houses were built, residency was given out but then …. people just left. Grabbed the pension money and ran.
      Guess we gotta start again and make some more Caymanians.

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